Two days ago, the Waterville Senior High School baseball team sat in fifth place in the Eastern Class A Heal Point standings, and coach Don Sawyer was starting to think of potential preliminary round game opponents.

Then the Purple Panthers knocked off Camden Hills, and vaulted into first place, earning a bye to the regional quarterfinals.

“That’s awesome for us,” Sawyer said. “We can work on some things now.”

Waterville (14-2) has played in the last five regional championship games. The Panthers are among a few central Maine baseball teams preparing for the playoffs. Some, like Waterville and Winslow, are posteseason regulars. Some, like Mt. Blue and Lawrence, are back after a brief hiatus. Then there’s Carrabec. When the Cobras host Maranacook in the Western Class C prelims on Tuesday, it will be Carrabec’s first playoff game since 2001, a year in which every team made the tournament. Not counting that open tournament appearance, the last time Carrabec baseball made the playoffs was 1992, a few years before any current Cobras were born.

In Eastern Class A, Lawrence will face Messalonskee and Mt. Blue takes on Cony in the quarterfinals on Thursday. In Eastern B, Winslow will host Ellsworth in a preliminary round game.

Western C prelim games include Madison at Lisbon. In Western D, Valley plays at Wiscasset in the quarterfinals.

Both Mt. Blue and Lawrence showed dramatic improvement this season. Each won just four games in 2013, and each improved to 8-8 this year. Mt. Blue closed the season with wins in five of its last six games.

“We played very good defense. We only made four errors in the last four games,” Mt. Blue coach Dave Pepin said. “We got clutch hitting when we needed it.”

The Cougars also got strong pitching, despite a shoulder injury to projected ace Cam Abbott. Colton Lawrence emmerged as the team’s top pitcher. Amos Herrin, who threw a no hitter against Mt, Ararat, and Ryan Pratt also pitched well for Mt. Blue.

“I’m not going to determine a starter until probably Monday,” Pepin said.

Lawrence clinched its playoff spot with a 12-2 win over Cony in the regular season finale. The Bulldogs played Messalonskee once in the regular season, losing 12-1.

“It’s our rival opponent. It should be a good atmosphere,” Lawrence coach Rusty Mercier said. “We’re going to have to play well. We’re hitting the ball pretty well of late. I think it’s going to be a tight game.”

Pitching was a question mark for Waterville at the start of the season, but that question appears to have been answered. Behind ace A.J. Godin, Dalton Wood and Adam Barre are throwing well, and Dan Pooler also has given the Panthers quality innings. Overall, this team has improved tremendously since the start of the season, Sawyer said.

“From day one, these kids worked hard to develop,” Sawyer said. “Dalton’s a legit number two starter, and Adam’s not far behind him.”

Despite going 13-3 in the regular season, Winslow, the defending Eastern B champs, wound up with the No. 6 seed.

A late season win over Winthrop was a key to Madison holding on to the 12th and final playoff spot in Western Class C. The Bulldogs lost to playoff opponent Lisbon, 6-5, in the regular season.

In Wiscasset, Valley faces an unknown opponent. The Wolverines are in their first year in Class D, and played a Class C schedule in the Mountain Valley Conference.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

[email protected]

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM